Goodman Fielder shares halted pending announcement
By Tina Morrison
June 30 (BusinessDesk) - Shares in Goodman Fielder have been halted pending a material announcement from the food
ingredients maker
No further information was provided by Sydney-based Goodman, whose shares last traded at 72 cents in New Zealand and 68
Australian cents in Australia.
Last month, the board of Goodman Fielder agreed to a A$1.37 billion takeover bid by Singapore-based Wilmar International
and Hong Kong-listed investment firm First Pacific Co. Wilmar, the world’s biggest palm oil processor, and First Pacific
will pay 70 Australian cents a share to take over the Australasian food ingredients maker, sweetening an earlier bid of
65 cents a share.
In February, Goodman Fielder forecast normalised annual earnings to be “broadly in line” with the previous year’s
A$185.6 million as soaring milk prices and intense competition in baking goods eroded profitability.
The maker of household brands including Vogel’s bread, Meadowfresh milk and yoghurt, and Meadowlea butter and margarine
has been cost cutting, restructuring and divesting over the past three years, to focus on its core brands and reduce
debt.
(BusinessDesk)